NASA takes its boldest and most controversial step—an attempt to fly men around the moon and back for the first time in history—at the end of one of the most cataclysmic years of the century.

The glare of the public eye, conflicts among the crew, disastrous simulations, and a series of harrowing last-minute crises threaten the Apollo 11 astronauts' success at pulling off NASA's crowning achievement—the first lunar landing.